Open season on Lim Guan Eng
April 06, 2012
APRIL 6 — Umno has apparently declared “open season” on Lim Guan Eng.
That they have been stalking their favourite target for years, even
well before he came into prominence, is an open secret.
If they had not maligned, abused and subjected him to unremitting
muck-raking and mudslinging, these Umno stormtroopers would have felt
totally inadequate and that something was missing from their miserable
existence.
They would, like their brown-shirted, fair-haired and blue-eyed Aryan
cousins of the Third Reich, have felt that they were not fulfilling
their historic destiny which is to cause as much mayhem as the police,
in their accustomed manner and wisdom, would allow. It is all in the
name of upholding “ketuanan Melayu”, and nothing should be allowed to
stand in their way, not even the rule of law. Years of blatant abuse
with impunity by Mahathir Mohamad who, in cahoots with his Umno
henchmen, succeeded by means fair and foul, mainly foul, in distorting
the systems of orderly governance as provided for under our
constitutional arrangements.
Imputations of improper motives such as in the case of “the
disappearing mosque land” and innuendos that any fair-minded Malaysian
would regard as completely beyond the pale are standard fare to be
dished out to the likes of Lim Guan Eng as and when it takes their
fancy. What is grotesquely ironic in all of this is that the driving
force behind the campaign to “put the non-Malays in their place” is a
bunch of bloody-minded, misguided “constitutional” Malays who have
been manipulating the Malays for ages.
For all their professed Malayness I am told the majority speak Tamil
at home. We are free to speak any language. However, those claiming to
be Malays must not only practise Malay customs and traditions but also
habitually speak the Malay language. That is what the Constitution
says. But you have to give it to them: they know Malay weaknesses
instinctively and are quick to exploit them.
But then, the Malay is an open book. I do not always see eye to eye
with Mahathir, but reluctantly I agree with him when he says Malays
have a short memory and this has worked to his advantage. Racist I am
not; I am just against any form of hypocrisy, barefaced or otherwise.
I suppose it would be totally unrealistic to expect a party that is
morally deficient in respect of civilised conduct to conform even to
minimum universal ethical standards. Where then is Umno’s legitimacy
to govern? They bleat or, more in keeping with the time in which we
live, moo, “But we have the people’s mandate.” Buying the so-called
people’s mandate with state funds certainly does not confer on Umno
the right to lead this nation.
In a more open and democratic society, the rule of law would ensure
that those lording over us and robbing us blind in the process would
by now be repenting at leisure (and that is being charitable in
assuming they have a conscience) in the blissful peace of a secure
prison at Sungai Buloh. Under the current regime where corruption has
been allowed to develop into a fine art form, a prison term for the
corrupt is a contradiction of Umno’s sacrosanct political philosophy
of no growth without bribery. Naturally all this is being sanctified
in the name of Hidup Melayu with the right connections.
In the present political climate and mood of desperation, much in
evidence in Umno circles, they will give a damn for public opinion.
This is nothing new to them as they have always treated public opinion
with disdain. How else do we account for the unbridled excesses we see
unfolding before our eyes with regular monotony? Guan Eng can always
hope for the best but he knows deep inside as long as he continues to
make a success of his stewardship of Penang, and as long as he has no
truck with unethical practices, he will continue to be harassed and
even physically threatened by Umno thugs.
Some of his detractors are saying that if he cannot stand the heat, he
should get out of the kitchen. It is not the kitchen fire as we
understand it that bothers Guan Eng. It is hell fire and brimstone
that he is being forced to live through each day all because he is
playing by a different, more open and accountable set of rules. Others
are saying “The man doth protest too much.” When William Shakespeare
wrote these words, he had not the faintest idea that there would be a
time when protesting too much against political thuggery in
undemocratic and corrupt Umno-led Malaysia would be completely
justifiable.
It has become a matter of life and death. It is, in my view, more
correct to say that Lim Guan Eng is agonising as the rest of us over
the sorry state of affairs in our once fair land. Unlike most of us,
Guan Eng is sticking his neck out to help bring about a better
Malaysia for all. If he “doth protest too much”, it is his life and
limb he is talking about and given what we saw on Padang Kota Lama
during an anti-Lynas rally recently, wouldn’t you, if you were in his
place, demand police protection? I know I would.
* Tunku Abdul Aziz is a former Special Adviser to the UN
Secretary-General on the Establishment of the UN Ethics Office and was
recently conferred by the University of Tasmania an honorary Doctor of
Laws for his fight against corruption and promoting ethics in business
and government.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
